Rafter stays on course

Pat Rafter took another huge step to retaining his US Open crown last night when he demolished big-serving Croat Goran Ivanisevic. The defending champion swept through to the quarter-finals with a 6-3 6-4 4-6 6-1 victory despite a brave rearguard action from Ivanisevic.

The fast, hard-court surface of Flushing Meadows is perfectly suited to Rafter's high-energy serve and volley game.

And the tough Aussie wasted no time in extending his lead when they resumed their match which was rained off with Rafter having won the first set on Monday night.

With Ivanisevic, this year's losing Wimbledon finalist and widely regarded as the best player not to have won a Grand Slam event, struggling to control his first serve, the match was never the hard-fought contest for which fans had been hoping.

He managed to win the third set due to Rafter's lapse in concentration, but hit just nine aces - a paltry tally for the world's most awesome server.

Rafter, whose game has looked to be gaining strength with each round, will take some stopping.

He now plays Jonas Bjorkman in the quarter-final. The Swede beat Holland's Jan Siemerink, Greg Rusedski's conqueror, 6-4 26 6-2 6-2.

Fellow Swede Thomas Johansson, ranked 33 in the world, marched through to the quarter-finals with a 3-6 6-3 6-3 76 victory over inconsistent Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

Karol Kucera, meanwhile, denied America the showdown of its dreams when he outgunned Andre Agassi after their bad-tempered, rain-hit fourth round match resumed last night.

A quarter-final duel against Sampras was the reward for Agassi, but he was unable to deliver.

The Slovakian, with his nerves restored after the fraught dogfight the night before, finally overcame the American 6-3 6-3 6-7 1-6 6-3.

The match had resumed with Agassi two sets to one down but leading 3-0 in the fourth set after he had resorted to street-fighting tactics to keep his hopes alive.

In a boorish manner, reminiscent of Jimmy Connors at his most belligerent, Agassi had mimicked Kucera's aborted ball toss, whipped up the Flushing Meadows crowd into a frenzy and adopted moon-ball tactics to upset his opponent.

It saved him from the brink of elimination on a rain-hit Monday night and at first he grasped the lifeline when the match resumed in the Louis Armstrong stadium two court here.